Gargano: Reawakening
by Mattycollns13
Summary: On forced Sabbatical from the Sentinels, common man Johnny Gargano is in a slump. He still has all his arrows in his quiver, but still reeling from an earlier heartbreak, something happens that has him breaking some rules to follow his gut. An adventure that he never thought he'd have could change his life and his future.


Johnny groaned as his phone buzzed violently on his bedside table. Couldn't they give him a break? He threw a pillow over his face, after glancing over and seeing Finn's name on the caller ID. Finally, he threw his arm out to get it and pressed it to his ear. "What?"

"I know the situation isn't exactly ideal, but that's no way to treat a friend." Finn's friendly voice sounded from the other side of the call.

"I'm really hung-over, so I'll talk to you how I want till I have my coffee. Plus, you aren't my team leader anymore, so."

He heard Finn sigh on the other end of the phone call. "You know that's not accurate, Johnny. You're just on sabbatical."

He rolled over, seeing the clock flashing twelve o' clock at him mockingly. "Forced sabbatical." He countered, pushing himself out of bed, trying to not step on any arrows he'd left on the floor.

"Well, you can't be leaving your post. We trust you enough to cover our backs, we expect you to have them." Finn was obviously pinching the bridge of his nose. Johnny knew that any argument he gave wouldn't be good enough for the Demon King. He'd already tried to fight the sabbatical a month ago to no avail, but he still felt the bitterness coursing through him so he tried anyway.

"Tommaso was going for those civilians and you know it. We save people, Finn, that's what we're supposed to do."

"And the fact that it was Tommaso had nothing to do with the situation."

Johnny sighed. "Fine, I'll give you that, but I was still right. You guys always do this! It's always me held to the double standard because I don't have any crazy powers. Give me an honest answer; if Roman or Drew did this, would they have been forced to go home for a month while they were evaluated? No! It'd been a week tops."

"Johnny…"

"Save it." He ended the call and slumped down at his kitchen counter. He'd been the first non-super powered person allowed on the Sentinels and they treated him like this… He was there for a reason. He shot better than any person on the planet with a bow and arrow. Plus, no one was better at tactics than him. And yet, he was seen as the weak link. Fuck that and fuck them.

He stood up and pressed the button on the coffee maker to make it do its thing. It whirred to life and he reached up and got his only remaining mug from the top cabinet. It was chipped and it was his and he loved it dearly. Time to pour some scalding hot swill into it and wake up a bit, despite him knowing he wasn't going to be doing anything today. Stupid sabbatical.

He wouldn't lie. The fact that it had been Tommaso, the psycho killer himself, that was going after the civilians made his decisions slightly easier, but who cared about their history? Was it really that hard to do the right thing? Was it really so bad to try to save innocent lives? It wasn't like the Sentinels were complete wimps, and just because they were facing Owens, and Generico was a little moodier than usual because his ex had a temper tantrum again downtown, didn't mean that he couldn't go and do something other than sniper cover. They limited him to that role because they didn't trust him; it was a simple as that.

He grimaced and laid his head down in his arms, which were folded on his cluttered island counter. His apartment was a mess of arrows, papers, beer bottles, and pizza boxes. He'd not handled this well. He was used to working and the fact that he couldn't even enter the Sentinel building to practice shooting really irked him.

The coffee maker buzzed and he poured it into the mug. He raised it to his lips but before it could get there the handle broke off, letting the rest of the mug shatter on the floor and the coffee quickly splattering everywhere. Johnny just stared at the remaining handle in his hand sadly. He let it drop to the floor and turned around to lean against the counter. "Dammit…" What a way to sum up his last month. He simply took the coffee pot, now only half full and drank it straight from there. It burned his throat but he couldn't bring himself to care. He stepped over the smashed mug and decided that he'd pick that up later when he wasn't feeling like such a shit pile in pajamas.

He glanced down at the dirty floor and groaned, under a cracked picture frame was a picture of him and Tommaso from a long time ago; when they were happy. He'd forgotten that he had any left. He stooped to pick it up, not feeling anything but anger at the sight of it. He hummed and was about to rip it when he caught sight of his bow, leaning against the couch. He bit his lip before grinning. Stop him from shooting at the building, well he knew how to pick locks and the roof was so rarely used. Maybe it was time to vent some anger from his job and personal life at once. Maybe it was time to get his mojo back before he figured out how to handle this whole sabbatical nonsense again with a clearer head. He grabbed his bow and a handful of arrows and sprinted up the stairs to the roof without realizing he was still in his boxers and T-shirt from the night before.

He didn't realize that he shot for so long. He wasn't really planning on spending his entire day, but when he finally came out of his Zen-like state on the rooftop it was dark. He looked down at his fingers; luckily the blisters from his years of shooting were still there even after a month off, stopping his fingers from bleeding with all the arrows he shot into Tommaso's stupid, bearded face. He sighed and went to pluck his arrows out of the wall, slipping them into his quiver that he'd run in and got a couple arrows ago. He was now dressed, jeans and a T-shirt, after a couple catcalls from the street below when he'd walked to retrieve arrows. He didn't give that kind of show for free after all.

A flash of almost white caught his attention from the corner of his eye. He looked down to see a beautiful, almost platinum haired woman walking down the street. She was across, nearing the old army surplus store that was barely open anymore. Johnny went there to shop sometimes for gear that he could piece together into something usable; not like the Sentinels paid very well, especially to a non-super. He watched her, she was a beautiful woman after all, and it wasn't creepy, he was just appreciating her beauty. He wouldn't catcall or say anything, but he was a human bisexual male. He had to live a little right?

However, something in her behavior was odd. He could tell that she was looking up and down the street with a similar way that he would when he was sniping. She was scanning for something and when she passed another man, her hands came out of her pocket and when Johnny blinked she was gone. Simply gone. His eyes were great; 20/20 vision, but she wasn't even there any more. He crouched low and scanned the entire street twice more before finally, he caught a flicker of her hair again. She was on the far side of the surplus store, near a high window. As he watched she scaled up the wall with little effort and while hanging on the ledge with one hand, on her fingertips, her other hand came in, picked the lock and threw the door open with ease. And now, with his eyes focused on her, he watched her disappear. Simply in thin air, vanish.

"Shit… invisible chick." He bit his lip. Maybe he could do with some more practice. And Finn wouldn't mind if he stopped a little burglary, would he? After all, what kind of hero, or even citizen would he be if he simply allowed this woman to stroll into one of his favorite stores and steal something? Plus, explosives were in there. He was just being reasonable he told himself, as he pulled an arrow from his quiver, already ready with a zip line arrowhead on it. He shot it into the brick of the building next to the surplus store so that she wouldn't know he was coming and used his bow to zip line down to street level.

He took the same way up that she did, seeing that she left the window open as an escape route and pulled himself up easily, only breathing a little heavily from his month of near inactivity. He saw that the room was dark, which he figured it would be. He took a look around, arrow already drawn, when he turned the corner, he saw her hair again. She seemed to be looking through some equipment, some old army boots clutched in her hand.

"I don't think those are really your size."

He watched her tense up, smiling to himself that he was able to sneak up on her. She turned around and he was momentarily struck dumb by her beauty. Blonde hair, an easy grin and eyes that seemed to sparkle despite an arrow pointed directly at her.

"And I believe your weapon is a couple hundred years out of date."

"Not how I use it."

She gave him a grin. "All men say that."

He felt his lip quirk up in a smirk by itself at her comment. "True enough. Wanna tell me what a bad chick like you is doing in a nice place like this?"

"Stealing. You?"

He chuckled. "I'm the kind of person that you lie to about that kind of stuff. Though you are saving us some time, so."

She still looked relaxed, placing the boots down. "Oh, I know who you are Johnny Gargano." If she was expecting him to flinch from hearing his true name, he didn't. His actual name wasn't unknown. He barely used his old hero moniker of Trueshot anymore. "And, I thought you were kicked off the team."

"Eh, it's just a bit of a lover's spat. Plus, doesn't help that you robbed the place right across the street from me. Really should do your research a bit better."

"Well, even if I had, I'd have risked it." He watched her eyes light up. "I believe I'll be taking those boxes behind you."

Johnny didn't look behind him. That'd be stupid. "I'm guessing guns and ammo? I know you can turn invisible, I'm not that stupid."

She pouted at him. "Aw, don't want to play with me?"

Her tone was flirty, but he simply smirked. Two could play at that game. "If I met you in a bar, or on the street I'd be more than happy to play any game you want. Sadly, had to catch you breaking the law."

She looked surprised that he had responded in kind, her interest piqued. She glared, now getting frustrated that she wasn't able to distract or fluster him. "Oh? Are blonde's your type? I thought it was bearded strongmen."

His heart skipped a beat at the mention of Tommaso. He felt his grip slacken for a moment and it was all it took for her to disappear. He cursed and backed up against the boxes behind him. He believed her when she said that they were what she was here for. He knew she'd have to come through him to get to them. He felt wind rustle as her fist came swinging from the right. He ducked and swung his bow out, hearing it thud against her ribs. Little did he know that that was the last hit on her he'd get that night. Soon legs and fists were flying from each direction and it took all of his concentration not to get caught the wrong way with em. Finally, she was able to get a lucky shot into his ribs, causing him to drop his guard. She wound her arms through his, pushing his bow up against his throat and pinning him to the boxes.

Soon she made her face visible again and she was close. Very close. He pushed against her, shocked that he couldn't overpower her hold. She grinned at him. "You're very good, Mr. Gargano, but I think I'll be taking what I need. I'm sorry we had to meet this way, but I really need this pay day. I hope you'll understand."

He grunted. "Oh, I get it. But don't think that there won't be a round two Ms…"

"LeRae. Candace LeRae. And oh, you know I like a man that can go more than one round." She teased lightly.

"Must be a pretty good thief if you're giving me your name."

"Well, I just happen to have a very high opinion of myself." She then leaned in, her voice whispering huskily in his ear, enough to send shivers through him. "I'll give you an A for effort though." With that she kissed his cheek before something collided with the side of his head and he saw black.


End file.
